Hard Times for Pakistan

Hard Times for Pakistan

Pakistan is a country which has been facing problems of survival since its establishment in 1947. The country was carved out of the Indian subcontinent on the basis of separate nationality making religion as basic ground for its separate entity than the Hindu majority.

Pakistan Generals surrender in 1971

In 1971, the then East Pakistan i.e. the Eastern Part became an independent state of Bangla Desh as a result of violent struggle which proved that religion had failed in giving Pakistan a nationality.
After the catastrophic disintegration of the country, she has not yet found a stability which is required for any country to survive for longer period. Time to time a number of suggestions are forwarded by different sections or vested interests to make Pakistan stronger including maximum provincial autonomy or making more provinces out of the existing four provinces of the Punjab,Sindh,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to improve the standard of governance but there are insurmountable difficulties in its implementation.

It is a point worthy of noting that Pakhtuns are already divided in four different portions in Pakistan since the inception of the country which is causing a sense of grievance amongst them.

In 1985 Muhajirs of Karachi organised themselves in an entity called Muhajir Qaumi Movement popularly known as MQM. They are the people who had migrated from India at the time of division of the Sub-Continent and were settled in the port city of Karachi of the Sindh province. They spoke Urdu which is now the national language of Pakistan and were called muhajirs or panagazeen i.e. those who sought shelter by local population.
The MQM is always having a handsome share in the provincial government of Sindh as well as in the federal legislature of Pakistan. Since 1985 they have remained in coalition government at provincial and federal level and have been reaping benefits as partners in government.

The fact is that since 1947 they have gained strength as compared with the local populations of various provinces. They have an effective share in Civil and military jobs; they occupied the port city of Karachi, its jobs and businesses. They have virtually occupied all alone the print and electronic media and as such they are in dominant position at provincial and federal levels. During the rule of two strong men of the state i.e. General Ziaul Haq and General Pervaiz Musharaf who were also muhajirs, they were given enormous benefits and were further strengthened.
Besides Karachi, muhajirs also settled in Hyderabad and Sukkur of the Sindh province which are two important and big cities of the province.

Much before 1985 when they organised themselves in MQM they had launched themselves on a path of organized terrorism which gained momentum after they formed the entity. They targeted the Pukhtun population of the city which is the second large population of the city after muhajirs.

Pakhtuns belonging to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of the country live in slums; they are mostly labourers and belong to the poorest sections of the city. As they have no where to go in search of jobs to survive, they were the target of MQM terrorist. So far the number of Pakhtuns killed by the MQM organised terrorism runs in thousands. However Pakhtuns never move out of their abodes out of fear. They cannot be intimidated to vacate the city for MQM. The organised terrorism launched by MQM was also adopted by other political and non-political organisations and as a result the city lost its shine and became a horrible place to live where dozens were target killed every day.

The government of Mian Nawaz Sharif decided to clean Karachi from not only terrorism but a number of other organised crimes and handed over the city to Rangers which forms part of the Pak army. The Rangers have challenged criminals in city including the criminals belonging to MQM who roamed freely and were certain that no one had the courage to apprehend or challenge them.

The central office of MQM known as 90 which is located in the center of the city and which was considered inviolable by MQM was raided in March this year and a number of wanted criminals and target killers were arrested from there. This courageous act of the Rangers not only intimidated the MQM leaders but also infuriated them beyond bounds. While the Rangers continue with their operation against criminals of all sorts, MQM is crying foul and is constantly giving the impression to the world community if they alone are targeted by the Rangers. Obviously this is an absurd impression.The MQM Chief Altaf Hussain is in exile in London for the last more than twenty years. He is in constant contact with his people via telephonic speeches to them. In 2010 a founding leader of MQM was murdered close to his house in a London locality. The London police while investigating the case which is still continuing has found the MQM leadership involved in the murder of its leader. Who is ultimately responsible for the heinous murder is not yet decided but the persons closely and intimately involed in the planning and implementation of removing Doctor Imran have been arrested and interrogated. It is commonly believed that the top most leadership is involved in the crime.

This and his alleged involvement in money laundering case has made Altaf Hussain depressed and out of senses. In order to divert the attention of his followers from his dishonourable end he has started delivering rebellious speeches to his followers.On the 2nd of August in a similar speech to his followers he gave a call to India to intervene in Pakistan on their behalf and he also gave a call to NATO and the UN to come and secure them from the Rangers’ operation which is specifically targeted against them. The Interior Minister of Pakistan is not wrong in designating Altaf’s recent speech as a declaration of war against Pakistan. It is likely that Altaf’s call to Indian assistance and the NATO and UN to interfere will be widely condemned in Pakistan and justifiably as India is killing Kashmiris in the held Kashmir for the last ten years but they have neither invited the Pakistan army nor NATO and the UN to come to their aid.

Palestinians have also not given a call to any third country to physically help Palestinians against the atrocities of Israel.

Pakistan Army operation in Pukhtun’s area

And Since 2009, in operations against terrorists, millions of Pakhtuns have been dislocated from their homes, placed in camps by the army and thousands of innocents have been killed in the army operattions in that part of Pakistan.

The inhabitants have been converted into beggars and they are made to run after of a pack of milk.Millions of children and women are facing the harshest situation of their lives but they have not given a call to a third body to come to their aid although the Pak army has willfully done every thing to subject even the non-involved population to harsh punishment but even then Pakhtuns have been enduring the worst times of their lives.

The Rangers operation against criminals in Karachi have in fact affected not more than few thousand and actual criminals have been apprehended but in FATA and Malakand division in Khyber Pakhvetunkhwa so far more than six million people have been affected. Whether terrorism in FATA unleashed by TALIBAN could be eliminated or not but in Karachi a lot has been achieved.

The biggest achievement of Rangers is that they have challenged the fascism of MQM. There would be no peace in Karachi for as long as MQM does not embrace peace and changes its terrorist ideology.

The MQM Chief’s demand for a Muhajir province is fraught with a number of dangers. When they demand a separate province, they forget and ignore the fact that they do not have their own soil, they were settled in Sindh. The territory they occupy belongs to the province of Sindh. Will the people of Sindh allow their territory to be snatched away from them and that too the most important port city of Karachi and the nearby Hyderabad city.

Pakistan’s economy depends on the port city of Karachi and when ever Karachi and Hyderabad are separated from Sindh,what will be left with Sindh and Sindhi people. But when the MQM gets a province of their own,the next demand will be for an independent State. Every sane person knows that where the MQM is leading the country. How the followers of Altaf react to his call will become evident in the coming days. Altaf has left no stone unturned in ultimately creating hard times for the integrity and stability of Pakistan.